gunnergoz

Couple of reasons it could be "lame": First is that it had less ammo on board. Second, only part of the ammo (propellant) went off. Either could be the case. My initial impression was that only one propellant cartridge went off, perhaps the one being handled by the loader. There was insufficient video to show if the tank continued to burn and cook off after the first explosion.

I was there in the early 90's and loved the place. If I had the means, I'd have rented a semi permanent room in the local pub and been a regular visitor at Bovington for months. It is a tank grog's delight. And the staff knows their stuff.

I suspect the TC looked "skeletal" because he'd already been instantaneously flash roasted alive before the overpressure ejected him through his hatch. As JK says, at least it was quick. A good reminder of what really happens inside tanks when the fecal matter hits the rotary oscillator.

If that's the one I'm thinking of, it's a beautiful B24 and I think the only truly original one still flying. I got to see it inside & out when they flew it over from India in the late 80's or early 90's. I wonder if they ever found the belly turret for it? When they got it from the Indian Air Force it had a radar dome (original WW2 pathfinder radar I think) in the place of the belly turret. I was amazed how how thin the WW2 airmen must have been to fit in the nose and tail turrets, not to mention the bombardier/navigator tunnel under the pilots' station. I was still pretty slim from my Navy years at the time and could barely fit in summer clothes, let alone with full high-altitude WW2 flying gear on.

Our friends from the sandy climes.

Washington's descendants made it to the moon, the other guys are still baying at it.

Yes, Win 7 is a winner, but I have absolutely no interest in Win 8. I may have to hang on to 7 as long as I did XP...

Concur that the RPG alone may not have been sufficient to set up such an explosion so I'm guessing that a round's propellant went off due to the RPG, possibly the one being handled and loaded at the time. If the entire ammo supply had gone off, it would likely have tossed the turret into the air.

Ah, that explains a lot. You may be in luck though because some guys have gotten it to work on XP, which is not officially supported. Hope you manage it, because it is a fun game.

Overall, the Arab world's grip on reality fails to impress me time and again. This video is no exception. A lot of what they do is entirely based upon highly emotional theatrics with little regard for what is practical, safe or sane.

Game is sort of formulaic but it is very replayable. I have 140+ hours on it so far, am about to win on Classic with limited saves - I've allowed all deaths except catastrophic. Next go throughs will be strictly on Classic Ironman mode until I can win it that way. @Stalin's Organist: What sort of CPU and system are you running? Which OS, etc?

No "Cooling system failure:" more like an RPG hit. I'm sure the whole crew, including the TC who went airborne through his open hatch, survived that one.

I don't miss them one bit. The new game's system is different, but provides no less challenge because it is a series of constant, difficult decisions. You still have this small squad that has to be maneuvered to best advantage while minimizing exposure.

@ZBP: You might want to look at Xenonauts then, or perhaps UFO:AI. Those are indie games more akin to the original.

I've got about 100 hours of play in it already and am enjoying the heck out of it. But the 2K site is awash with trollish posters complaining that it is either too easy, too hard, not enough like the original, too much like the original, etc. etc. I'm very pleased with it myself.

You noticed that too, eh? No "Hi Mom!" moment unless you want to spend the next decade in Siberia.

@Stalin's Organist: Go to the steam App under Library. Look up XCom and right click on it to bring up Properties. On the Tabs pick Local Files and in there select the button that says Verify Integrity of Game Cache. It will take a few minutes and re-install any bad or missing game files. Then I'd recommend you quit the Steam app, re-start it, select XCom "Play" and the game should work fine. With a completely wonky install you can go to Steam Library, right Click on XCom and press Delete Local Files. This will completely remove the game from your HD. Then do a re-install. I have to say that I was a total Steam hater and avoider until I actually tried it. Now I like it. That's saying a lot from someone who's been buying games since the mid-80's. My XCom install was on the first few moments after it was released, when the Steam servers were swamped. My first install screwed up the DirectX files somehow and I had to go through the file verification routine I mentioned above and the game correctly reinstalled the files. I Quit the Steam app (which insures that the app cache and files are correctly updated), re-started Steam, and began to play XCom. Let me know if this helps or not. Enjoy the game!

...Must come down. In this case, probably someone's career. Video of a Russian AA missile system malfunction. I think they may be S-300's from the size and type of launch tube, but only see three tubes instead of four. Maybe a "monkey model" for export? Anyone else have any ideas what this system is? http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/08/the-launched-missile-decides-to-stay/ BTW take your chances with the other links on the page: this site is fairly reputable but I can't vouch for the links.

I've waited years for it and am playing it now, around various chores and errands. Yes indeed, I'm a happy camper.

Speaking of loud planes and loud multi engine planes, I have a vivid boyhood memory of seeing B-36's flying over the Midwest US, landing and taking off from their base, as we were driving through the country on one of my father's Army transfers. The noise was truly incredible. I hear the Bear turboprop bombers can give the B-36 a run for their money, but the B-36 had 6 prop and 4 jet engines going for it. Those were the days, when the old "aluminum overcast" ruled the skies.

Nosfe is correct. My great uncle Uccio was an Italian army general and he was always referred to, even in the family, as "il Generale Marciano."

As it turns out, I was thinking of an article I read after that that included many details. I'll see if I can locate it.

I mentioned the CO and the source for the story about him in post #19 in this thread but you guys were so caught up arguing, it must have gone right by you. The article makes an interesting read.

I for one will not mourn for the collapsed Afghan government we paid through the teeth for as US taxpayers, and got nothing in return from except a pretty sobering collection of returning caskets. Of all the things that I resent about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the things (besides the human cost) that I resent the most, is that my tax dollars having gone directly into the pockets of warlords, criminals and drug cartels in the idiotic assumption that these people would further America's aims instead of their own.

Well done, John, Kudos.